Automotive Technical Service Bulletins (TSB)

Manufacturers are not required to issue TSB's to customers. Nor are they required to fix "recurring problems". Their warranties are pretty well defined. So, I think you will have to fix this problem yourself. GM products often have problems with the A/C "motors" since they went away from vacuum operated motors to electric "stepper motors" to work the blend door and recirculation door. Your recirculation problem is probably a bad recirc door motor. If you hear a "clicking" sound under the dash, then that is the problem for sure. These motors are fairly cheap and easy to replace, especially if you are a contortionist! They are under the dash and are usually held in by three screws and one electrical plug. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Thanks. This is helpful.

In your opinion, who makes the best automotive manuals...Chilton?

Chilton's is OK. But for the best info on where parts are located on a 2004 vehicle, I would go to Autozone.com DIY and see if they have your model in the "repair guide" section.

Well I did some more googl'ing, mixing up some search words, and found an easy fix for this on one website. It turns out it is just a very poor design and easily fixed, although temporarily.

I was not able to register on the Autozone site to try it. but if you want the best of the service manuals, the factory service manuals are available from Helm. They are not cheap though. They have a # of 1-800-551-4123. There should be an order form in the back of your owners manual.

Thanks Bob.

A list of all TSB's for your model and year: http://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2002/tsbs.shtml

A link to a feature that's links TSB's and DIY service info and manuals together:

http://www.carcomplaints.com/repair_manual.shtml

Please use English; what is " ... air conditioner recirculate...." ?

Recirculated air conditioning is when some of the air for the air conditioning is drawn from the inside of the vehicle, instead of bringing in all of the air from outside. The advantage to this is that the inside air is cooler than the outside air. Using cooler air will allow the inside of the car to cool off faster. Because an A/C system can only lower the air temperature by about 15 degrees, the cooler air helps.